Becoming a Strategic Partner to the C-Suite - Key Lessons from Kendra Brown

On a recent episode of the Winning IR podcast, Kendra Brown shared valuable insights from her 24-year career journey at FactSet. Her unique journey from Product Management to Chief of Staff to Head of Investor Relations offers important lessons for IR professionals looking to build strategic value within their organizations.

Building relationships and adding value to the management team

Kendra’s message is clear: If you want to contribute at the highest level, strategic alignment is non-negotiable:

“As IRO, before you go and talk to a senior investor, you have to understand strategically what makes your company tick. Whether [you are talking to] your CEO, CFO, large investors, or internal teams, you need to make sure it's aligning with your strategic narrative.

“And when it's not, it really is your job to be the voice in the room, to point that out. But you need to hold that tight to the vest, because that really is what should drive what you're saying and how you're partnering with your leadership team.”

For IR professionals looking to build credibility and strategic alignment with leadership, Kendra recommends:

• Understanding your company's strategic pillars and ensuring all communications align with the strategic narrative
• Developing an outside-in perspective to bring valuable market insights back to the organization
• Viewing IR as high-level sales, requiring daily engagement with stakeholders and deep understanding of what drives investment decisions

Creating effective feedback channels

To become a strategic voice within your organization, you need more than market feedback—you need systems to share them effectively. Kendra’s tried-and-true methods for keeping leadership informed include:

• Regular meetings before earnings to discuss themes
• Monthly internal newsletters highlighting meeting insights and market perspectives
• Strong relationships with the CFO to ensure IR has representation in key discussions
• Proactive information sharing about market trends and investor sentiment

Kendra emphasizes the importance of having a strong relationship with your CFO. She recommends that IROs add value to their conversations with the CFO to enable them to share insights reciprocally.

“Your CFO should be your partner in crime. How can you inform them to be your proxy in the rooms that you're not in? Make sure you have something to say, so that people are seeking you out.”

Building company context and relationships

Being an effective IRO goes beyond external engagement. Fostering strong internal relationships and understanding the priorities of leadership are equally important. For IR professionals new to their organization or seeking to build meaningful connections, Kendra recommends:

• Dedicating time daily to learning about the market and company
• Studying the competitive landscape through transcripts, research reports, and news
• Building financial models to understand company valuation drivers
• Scheduling one-on-one meetings with leadership to understand their priorities
• Joining professional organizations like NIRI to learn best practices
• Developing internal relationships across departments

Kendra narrows in on what it takes to be a strategic partner to your senior leadership:

“Understand what's important for your senior leadership team. What makes them tick? One thing I did when I started in this role, I scheduled one on ones with all of them to understand what's top of mind? What's working? What's not working? And how can we be better partners? It was four questions that allowed me to do my own internal perception study, but it allowed me to be a better partner. I used that to understand how to work with them, and who I need to collaborate with going further.”

Securing a strategic seat at the table

One of the most optimal ways to maximize the efficacy of your IR program is to ensure you have a voice within the company. IR is one of the few roles that allows direct access to senior management. Kendra stresses that IROs should leverage this opportunity to elevate their strategic influence.

Kendra’s suggestions on how to elevate your strategic influence include:

• Always be prepared with meaningful insights to share with management
• Anticipating needs and providing proactive solutions
• Creating regular communication channels, like monthly newsletters and Q&A documents
• Establishing clear opportunities for engagement before and after earnings
• Demonstrating the value of IR through concrete examples and outcomes

Measuring IR program success

With a background in product management, Kendra leads with a data-driven mindset. She recommends using both qualitative and quantitative metrics to demonstrate the impact of IR efforts. For example: 

• Stock price movements correlated with IR activities
• Street sentiment and analyst estimates compared to internal expectations
• Changes in investor base and success with targeting efforts
• Shareholder engagement levels and geographic diversity
• Business-specific KPIs that demonstrate an understanding of company drivers

Leveraging unique data for strategic insights

At FactSet, Kendra relies on an integrated technology ecosystem—highlighting the power of real-time data in shaping impactful IR strategies.

“I use FactSet every day in this role, it’s definitely a big boon for me. I have dashboards at my fingertips that allow me to start my day with real time news and intelligence that will allow me to know how to be most impactful. So if there's something going on in the market, what conversations do I need to have? What investors may be waiting to take a position that now they may be able to act on if I reach out? 

“And I have real-time intelligence at my fingertips every single day. The value comes from our connected content. It allows me to stay on top of our performance as well as our peers.”

For IR professionals, Kendra recommends:

• Developing internal networks across departments
• Gathering product and service feedback during investor meetings
• Creating dashboards for real-time market intelligence
• Maintaining robust financial models that can be quickly updated
• Building an integrated IR technology ecosystem, including FactSet and Irwin

Final Takeaways

Kendra’s career is proof that strategic value in investor relations comes from combining three powerful elements:

1. Deep business understanding—align every message with your company’s core strategy.
2. Strong internal relationships—build trust across all leadership levels.
3. Data-driven insights—use meaningful metrics and market intelligence to inform decisions.

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